This disclosure relates to an abnormality responding process in a sample processing apparatus.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-204386 (Patent Literature 1) discloses a sample processing apparatus including a first mechanism unit that performs an upstream process step and a second mechanism unit that performs a downstream process step. When an abnormality occurs in the first mechanism unit, this sample processing apparatus performs an abnormality responding process which causes the first mechanism unit to stop and the second mechanism unit to continue its operation. The first mechanism unit and the second mechanism unit are arranged away from each other to avoid overlap between their operation ranges.
In Patent Literature 1, the first mechanism unit and the second mechanism unit need to be spaced from each other to avoid overlap between their operation ranges in order to prevent operation interference by the first mechanism unit when the first mechanism unit is stopped due to its abnormality. This results in restrictions on the layout of components of the sample processing apparatus including the first mechanism unit and the second mechanism unit. Thus, it is desired to improve the freedom in layout.